Lay Down Your Life

​John 15:12-13 ~ “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
 
Long ago in the history of the church, in the mid to late ninth century, as the gospel began to spread across the European continent and into the great northern reaches of the Celtic islands, a day was established to remember those who had given their lives for the sake of Christ. It was dubbed, “All Saints Day.” Once held on the first of May it was moved to the first of November in order to wrest the pagan culture away from their false deities to the Lord Jesus Christ. And on this day, let us remember the call upon all believers to rise up in love for our LORD and His people that we should also be ready to lay our lives down for the sake of the gospel of Christ. Paul would say in Acts 20:24, “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” There are some who account their lives in such a way that they only value what they can gain for themselves. But our LORD Jesus would turn such a notion on its head when He proclaimed, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mark 8:35).
 
There is, in our text today, a standard set that takes us beyond ourselves and sets us before the LORD in absolute desperate need for the means to obey. Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Who upon this earth can live up to the standard that Jesus set— “as I have loved you?” Surely the LORD would know of our limitations. Surely, He must have meant that we ought to love one another as best we can. No, my friends, He meant what He said. We are commanded to love one another in the same manner that the LORD Jesus has loved us. Let us look back to John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Only as we abide in Christ will we find the means of obedience to His command. Let us find ourselves always in Christ, in every moment we walk through this world, that we should have the means by which we can love one another even as Christ has loved us.
 
As we continue in our view of this precious text today, we read, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” This is the pinnacle of the faith, a love so great that even life itself is merely a gift to offer, a sacrifice to lay down. Without question, Jesus did for us exactly what He commands us to do. He does not set before the church an imposed standard that He, Himself, did not meet. Romans 5:8 testifies to this, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It does not call upon us to look for such a love, but to give it. There are some who will refrain from loving because they are waiting upon others to love them first. But what would happen, beloved, if all of God’s redeemed gave up the notion of waiting to be loved and merely purpose their lives for the benefit of others? Paul spoke of Timothy in such a way, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare” (Philippians 2:19-20). May it be that the testimony of our faith is such that those who come through our lives experience the genuine love of Christ.
 
The history of the church is filled with the stories of those who gave their lives in their service for Christ. They did not love their lives so much that they were unwilling to lay it down. Here on this day of remembrance, let us hearken to the Scriptures and hear the testimony of those who have gone before. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” There is a race before you, my friends. A journey marked by the footprints of the martyrs of the past. Let us also leave a trail for others to follow that they will know that we sojourned in this life in the love and power of the LORD Jesus.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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